Presently, to light artwork associated with a game of a gaming machine, it has been necessary to use incandescent lighting or light emitting diodes (LED's). Incandescent lights have a limited life span and, by using them, the game can lose its effectiveness by not having the artwork light up as required.
The intensity of incandescent lights or LED's cannot easily be adjusted nor adjusted sufficiently rapidly to give a realistic impression of the events occurring in the game. As a result, when it is necessary to change lighting intensity or to light up a component or image of the artwork, in response to an event in the game, this cannot be easily achieved within the required time span.
It will also be appreciated that the artwork comprises numerous images each of which may require separate illumination. To effect back lighting of these images by using incandescent lights or LED's, shielding in the form of metal or plastics formwork needs to be applied about each image to inhibit light leakage. The shielding has to be accurately mounted to match the artwork images. Any mismatch or out of tolerance mounting of the shielding causes overlapping with other images of the artwork or, in the case of finer images, lighting the wrong image altogether. The requirement to make use of shielding has also made it extremely difficult to light irregular, odd shapes or fine images.
Australian Patent No 741427 (International Publication No WO 99/39552) in the name of Screen Sign Arts Limited entitled “Electroluminescent display” discloses the use of electroluminescent material for illumination purposes. The contents of Australian Patent No 741427 are specifically incorporated in this specification by reference. The applicant proposes use of an electroluminescent illuminating arrangement.